Ernest Fuller

A Driver with 21 Battery, 2 Brigade, died on 2nd of May 1918, and the age of 29.

Ernest was born at Kirkley in 1889, a son of William John and Mary Ann Fuller. In 1891 his family lived at 1 Beaconsfield Road (Westgate Buildings) and in 1901 at 9 Beaconsfield Road. They were still living at 9 Beaconsfield Road in 1911 and at that time Ernest worked as an engineer's assistant at a motor manufacturer. 

It seems that at some point Ernest moved to London and a transcript of Soldiers Died in the Great War states that Ernest lived at Millwall and enlisted at Poplar. He joined the Royal Field Artillery and was posted to France to serve with 21 Battery, 2 Brigade. 

Ernest married Flossie Jezebel (Jessie) Beamish at Flore Street Wesleyan Chapel, Brixham, Devon, on 21 October 1917. Flossie was a daughter of William and Jessie Beamish of 5 Epsom Terrace, Kirkley Run, Lowestoft.

In May 1918 2 Brigade occupied positions in the vicinity of Chateau Segard and the western edge of Zillebeke. The Brigade war diary records that from the evening of 1 May there were several cases of ‘what may be gas poisoning’. It seems that Ernest was gassed and evacuated to one of the Casualty Clearing Stations at Arneke where he died from the effects of gas shell poisoning. 

After Ernest's death Flossie lived at Hill View, Higher Brixham, Devon, and then at 125 Carlton Road, Kirkley, Lowestoft. Flossie remarried in 1924. 

Note: Commonwealth War Graves records give Ernest's unit as 21 Battery 2 Brigade, but other sources, such as the Army Register of Soldiers' Effects, give 11/2 Brigade (meaning 11 Battery of 2 Brigade). 21 Battery only served with 2 Brigade and 11 Battery did not serve with 2 Brigade.